A Day In Metropolis
by InTheVast
Summary: Confrontations. Lex takes an interview with a young reporter fresh from Smallville.


A DAY IN METROPOLIS The bright lights of Metropolis were like beacons of distress. Hospitals were overflowing with radiation victims, yet the Lex Corporation factories and labs that were accountable kept burning on into the night.  
  
The street air down below was full of an unscented, nameless toxic poison. The bustling city crowds breathed it in, sucked it down their lungs like water. They would all be quarantined by the end of this week. Their frail systems would not survive the terminal mutations, or the underhanded experiments that Lex Corp. would soon conduct. Yes, the people of Metropolis were far past desperation, yet there was no blur of red and blue in the sky, no savior of the sick and fallen to be seen. It's been too long Superman.  
  
The view he had from his office was astonishing, yet exactly what he had expected. And everything he had hoped for. Unconsciously he was stroking his left hand, his fingers smoothing the soft leather texture of the glove.  
  
"Let him in." He said without turning around. He knew without looking that Hope and Mercy were already opening the elaborate glass doors, allowing the impatient journalist inside his imposing main office.  
  
The dark haired young man was shaking with an ineptly controlled, powerful, God-like rage. Lex Luthor could already begin to feel a smile forming at his mouth, as he always did whenever the easy-to-read reporter was near.  
  
"Clark." He said in greeting.  
  
"Mr. Luthor." The journalist replied dryly.  
  
"You know you can call me Lex." He said, motioning for Clark to sit in the empty chair across his desk. Clark sat down obediently without any attempt at further protest. Which surprised Lex, but he knew better then to let that show.  
  
When he saw Clark take the tape recorder out of his jacket lining and lay it in plain-view on his ornate glass and marble desk, he smiled faintly and waited politely with every pretence of nonchalance he could muster, as the young reporter opened his battered steno pad, and wielded his pencil over it like a weapon.  
  
Clark looked up at Lex as if feeling the heavy weight of his gaze. Lex smiled at him again rather helplessly, because at this point Hope and Mercy had already left his office, and he knew he was rather alone. It's just a reporter; He suddenly felt the need to remind himself.  
  
"I'm sure you know about the recent rash of radiation poisoning, Mr. Luthor," Clark began, breaking the silence.  
  
"Lex," He corrected again. "And yes I have heard." He looked expectantly at Clark.  
  
"Do you know the cause?" Clark asked blatantly. Oh, the audacity of a farm boy from Smallville, how refreshing. Lex couldn't stop his smile this time.  
  
"No, I'm not aware of any circumstances in the vicinity of Metropolis that could cause such," he paused from the recitation. "Devastation."  
  
"Well it's funny you should say that Lex." Clark put emphasis on his first name. "Scientific panels say it's caused by nuclear reactor experimentation." He looked up at Lex for a response.  
  
Lex raised an eyebrow. "Lex Corp. doesn't play with nuclear energies Clark. Your prior research before this interview should have pre-empted you from making that assumption."  
  
"Can you prove that Lex Corporations doesn't have any dealings with any nuclear energy companies?" Clark countered, scrawling furiously on his notebook.  
  
"Can I prove it?" Lex laughed easily. "What could Lex Corporations possibly gain from nuclear research?"  
  
There was a pause. "Nothing." Clark said at last, studying Lex's carefully impassive face.  
  
"But I have a theory Lex Luthor. I think for once this whole thing has nothing to do with what your company is affiliated with. I think it's all a mask to cover up something bigger. What's really going on now has something to do with what you alone are associated with."  
  
Lex yawned. "Again with the accusations Clark. How predictable."  
  
But Clark wasn't finished. "I think one of your. associates is responsible for this Lex. I think you have something to gain from all of it too. I think one of your private research facilities blew the molten reactor core in a nuclear reactor and from there asatine penetrated the containment vessel and hit ground water."  
  
Lex shook his head. "Quite the deducter Clark. But, you know as well as I do that there's no way you can trace any of this back to me." He used his gloved hand to press a button under his desk. "Hope and Mercy should be here momentarily to show you out."  
  
Clark shook his head in disgust. "Don't bother." He said standing up, Lex stood up also. Clark reached forward and grabbed the tape recorder of the glass surface of Lex's desk, scratching it as he turned off the record button. There was a small thud as something from Clark's lap fell to the floor.  
  
Clark had dropped his steno pad on the marble floor when he had stood up. Lex bent over and grabed it, then handed it back to Clark with his gloved hand. Clark hesitated at the outstretched notebook, then attempted to grab it fast from Lex, just as Lex's artifical fingers closed around the comforting warmth of Clark's hand.  
  
Clark jerked away quickly, as if he had been burned.  
  
"Is my touch repulsive?" Lex asked, unable to put a name on the feelings rushing through him. Dissiapointment?  
  
Clark ignored him. "People are dying because of your experiments Lex. There may not be a way to link any of this to you or your company but can't you see what it's doing to the people? Can't you make it stop?" He pleaded.  
  
Lex could sense Hope and Mercy's presence at the glass doors to his office. They both were better trained then to enter before he gave the signal.  
  
"It's out of my hands Clark." He said finally.  
  
Clark shook his head. "It's all about power with you isn't it. That's all you've ever cared about."  
  
"I do what I can in a society where achievements are limited to its technology."  
  
Clark was already out the doors. Mercy and Hope where there, waiting for his commands. He shook his head and they both backed off.  
  
Clark turned around and his blue eyes met Lex's dead ones. "This isn't over." He promised.  
  
Lex could only smile as he always tended to do around dark haired, easy-to- read reporters.  
  
When the glass doors slammed shut, Lex turned once more to face the windows of his office, watching the bright lights of Metropolis to clear his mind. But his thoughts and dreams were already unattainable and somewhere else. not with the elusive blue and red messiah somewhere in the sky . but with a little farm in Smallville, and a boy that once lived there.  
  
The next day the headlines of the papers would read: Superman is Back! Illegal Nuclear Factories Destroyed! Radation Contamination Dissapears Overnight, Thousands Saved!  
  
For some reason Lex couldn't make himself care. 


End file.
